Ros-Lehtinen: No U.S. Money to U.N. Agencies Backing Palestinian State

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued the following statement regarding the United Nations General Assemblys vote Thursday to adopt a resolution granting Palestine the status of non-member observer state at the U.N.:

Abu Mazen, instead of condemning the Gaza rocket fire and negotiating with Israel for lasting peace, spent the past week congratulating Hamas for its efforts to murder Israeli civilians, while offering condolences for Hamas martyrs. Now the U.N.s vote to grant de facto U.N. recognition of a nonexistent Palestinian state has pushed peace with Israel even further away.

It is regretful that so many nations supported this unilateral action by the PLO instead of endorsing a bilateral, two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

Its crystal clear that Abu Mazen and his cronies are not partners for peace and do not value their relationship with the U.S. The U.S must stand with our ally Israel and offer no U.S. taxpayer dollars and no political support for the PLO. As other U.N. bodies will no doubt use General Assembly resolution as an excuse to grant membership to a nonexistent Palestinian state, U.S. law is clear: U.N. agencies that grant membership to a Palestinian state lose their U.S. funding. If the administration again seeks to gut U.S. law and keep funding those reckless U.N. agencies, Congresss response must be simple: No.